A South Jersey Girl Writes

A creative writing blog in which to display my pursuit of several writing challenges.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Interview with Bubblews Administrator Avi Dixit

I know that some questions have been asked by others, but I will try to make them as unique as possible. Please identify which of you is answering which question.1) Why did you decide to create Bubblews?We decided to create Bubblews because we felt that that the ideology behind Social Networks is not in favor of the content producers, the people who build up their enormous communities and willingly give them their thoughts and viewership without being compensated for it. What Bubblews is trying to do is very bold, but when we are successful, we will have completely changed the internet and what people originally thought was possible. In order to innovate, you have to be willing to be misunderstood.

2) What is it about Bubblews that makes it so very different from all other previous "paid to write" sites?

We don't like to view ourselves as a 'paid-to-write' website, but more of a brand, that is socially responsible. We are trying to create social products that always keep people in the forefront and social engagement as a top priority. We are different because we allow anyone from any part of the world (as long as they can write/read English) to come to our website and be treated the same as everyone else. We believe in a fair playground and depending on how interesting the content you produce, dictates how successful you are in developing your voice into a brand through our platform.

3) Why are you able to pay out more than others? Don't you have overhead costs?

Yes, of course, just like any business we have overhead costs, however we try to keep our company as lean as possible so that we can compensate people way more than any other website out there. We are the ones that are trying to break the mold for digital online advertisement and how they treat people all around the world. Bubblews really is on a mission to change the world and the internet, forever.

4) You say you split revenues 50/50. Does that really leave you enough money to cover costs AND make money?

Bubblews currently gives 100% of advertisement revenue back to our members. Meaning, anything that we make off of a member, we return back to the member. Bubblews main short-term goals are not profit but to be bold enough to cause a big enough splash to ensure that we can re-shape the internet to intertwine with our bright , overall vision.

5) Were you ever participants in any writing site before creating this one? How about any other "pay to" site? You seem to understand how little is gained with them.

No, we were never involved with any paid-to-write websites, because as I have stated before we do not view ourselves as a pay-for-article website. We are a social blogging network that allows people to mingle and do what they already do on the internet, but be compensated for that energy, thoughts and expierences that they chose to share with the world. There is enough outlets for professional writers, and while we have many professional writers on our website, members of our community understand that we are more of a social network.

6) What did you have to do to start Bubblews with reference to hardware, advertisers, etc.? In other words, how did it actually come together?

Whenever you have an idea as an Entrepreneur, those who actually do and those that don't make the biggest difference. You have to be willing to just submerge yourself in an idea and make sure that you continually make it work. Passion and drive is what makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs. Usually when you are misunderstood it means that you are innovating. Nothing is every perfect the first time around. Ernest Hemingway once said, 'The first draft of everything is shit.' We believe we have only just started to scratch the surface of what we can do.

7) Do you only read Bubbles when analyzing problems or do you read them for pleasure, too?

When we first started Bubblews we had more time to be able to read and communicate with the community. However, now we are really focusing on building the business and making our member support more seamless. With that said, we do make sure that we still take some time every day to interact with our members. Most of our passion and drive comes from the nice things we read from our members about us.

8) Have you had any Bubbles that stood out for you? What attracted you to them and why are they memorable?

Yes. There are a lot of bubbles about how Bubblews is literally changing their lives. Times are hard for a lot of people out there and rather than making more of the tech leaders money, we decided that people need a place that they feel safe and are not being taken advantage of.

9) Speaking of Bubbles - just where did the name BUBBLEWS come from?

The world bubblews comes from the words 'bubble' and 'news.' Bubble in the sense that they are a lot like thoughts; they grow, shrink, pop, merge and float around, much like they do in our own brains. The word news was chosen, not in the sense of the way Journalists treat news, but more of what is new to you? What is new in your life? That is what we care about.

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Image created using mybannermaker.com.Thank you very much for the opportunity to ask the questions that so many others are thinking!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Humor for the evening!

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover .

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.

When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. 'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.'

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?'

'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thank you &Katjusa for the idea!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Quasi-Government Waste Threatens Viability of Local High Speed Line

The celebrated and popular PATCO speedline put into place in 1969 to run on already established tracks between Lindenwold, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA, has been a generous benefactor of a variety of pet projects in the local vicinity, including $14 million towards the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies stadium-complex, $5 million towards the National Constitution Center and $5 million towards the New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden. The totals spent to "promote tourism" have all come from fares being paid by riders.

Now, that may all sound like a good use of money coming from a non-profit, quasi-governmental organization. Take the money paid by users of the system and use it to enhance the area to increase ridership and promote the area's local sites. Unfortunately, despite regularly raising fairs due to increased "costs", PATCO and the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) that operates, the amount of money needed to bring the speedline back up and fully functionable is almost a half-billion dollars. That is just about the same amount of money they have spent on pet projects throughout their 34 years. Does that mean it will take 34 years to get back in shape?

Most of the stations along the line have elevators and escalators that don't work. In fact, it is so bad that the Federal Transit Administration has already cited them numerous times for failing to maintain equipment meant to allow the disabled access to the train platforms. Just this year during the first six weeks of 2014, trains have broken down 55 times because of lack of maintenance!! Yet, the money has already been spend on pet projects to promote tourism for people who now can't use the system because of lack of maintenance. Just this past Monday (2/17), 50% of the lines elevators were out of order!

At one time, the PATCO Speedline was considered the most efficient rapid transit system in the country. Now ridership is dropping. People are tired of not being able to count on something that willingly promotes itself through economic development grants yet doesn't seem equally willing to keep its users happy. Fires have broken out while the trains were halfway across the Ben Franklin bridge. This is no longer an inconvenience. It is a disaster seeking the opportune time to happen.

Stop spending money on promotion and start putting it all back into the transit line. Riders should not be riding the same trains that started out 34 years ago. shutting down half of the tracks in the dual-track system in order to do maintenance every day is not how it should be done. Had they done their jobs all along, maintaining both the trains and the tracks and the stations, there would be no need of a major disruption of service. I honestly can't see any good coming of this for this transit line. Too little oversight on the handling of money taken in through fares has created a nightmare for commuters.

Friday, March 7, 2014

An Honorable Man

Two weeks ago, John Patrick Stanton was buried privately after a very well-attended funeral mass held at the Immaculate Conception Church in Jenkintown (Philadelphia). He was 86 when he died and is survived by his wife, 12 children, 46 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

At John's evening wake the evening before, roughly 1100 people filed past his casket to view him one last time. On the morning of the mass and burial, another 400 were in attendance. Included in the attendees were 16 priests, the Stanton Family Singers and a Marine Honor Guard staffed entirely by his grandchildren (Stanton was a Navy veteran).

One particular attendee deserves a special note. Her name is Brianna and she came because her birth took place because of John Patrick Stanton. You see, Mr. Stanton was the founder of the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia. He took a stand against abortion. For 30 years, he would stand in front of an abortion clinic three days a week praying for those who were going in. One of those clinics saw him in attendance for 12 years before it was shut down due to the atrocities taking place within - and by that I mean patients who died through malpractice and babies whose spinal cords were severed if they were born alive.

In no case, though, did John Patrick Stanton ever scream at the women entering these clinics to call them murderers. He never belittled them. He did speak to them on occasion, saying to them, "You're a beautiful mother." Mr. Stanton did suffer abuse at the hands of some who saw him as a trouble maker, being maced or hit in the face by something or someone who left bruises. Yet, he retained the "utmost respect" for the women he reached out to. He didn't see evil in them.

Once, after being charged with contempt of court for violating an injunction by picketing, he went to jail rather than pay the legal fees of the clinic because he couldn't bear the thought of paying money to a company that profited from abortion. He was there for 90 days and never did pay the fees before he died.

John Patrick Stanton was an honorable man. I may not share his convictions (don't misunderstand my meaning - it's not as black and white as it seems), but I admire his devotion to them. I also admire that he did it all with love, which can't be said for many who are opposed to abortion. He simply prayed for and conversed with the pregnant women entering the clinics. He was a peaceful, loving and caring man who I would have loved to have met.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

52 Week Ancestor Challenge - LARS CARLSSON LOCK

Lars Carlsson LOCK is another of my direct line ancestors. Lars is my 7th great-grandfather. He is the first of the LOCK line on my mother's side in the New World, leaving Sweden in September 1647. Originally, Lars's surname was not LOCK. He, like others of his time, used the patronymic method of naming. In other words, since he was Carl's son, he was Carlsson. The surname of LOCK he derived from his Swedish town of origin, Lockerud, upon coming to this land. My great-grandmother was the last direct LOCK descended from him on our line.

It is estimated that he was born around 1624 in Sweden, his year of birth based on his age when he died. Lars was a minister in the New Sweden Colony, replacing John Carpanius upon arrival. His wife Catharina, born around 1635, married him here and they settled to live into the New Sweden glebe lands. Their church, a log building, was located on Tinicum Island which was the first Swedish settlement in the Americas. It was here that Lutheranism was established in the New World.

Unfortunately, though, Catharina was not happy with her lot in life as Lars's wife on this marshy island in the Delaware River. In 1661, she ran away with a man named Jacob Jongh who had arrived in the area in 1654 as a "soldier and commisary" and moved to Westchester County, NY. By 1677, they had returned to Philadelphia County. Jongh, the wife stealer, was sexton and schoolmaster of the new log church established at Wicaco until his death in April 1686. In the meantime, Lars had met and married Beata Lom, an 18 year old who was living with another Swedish family, the head of whom was named Olof Stille. Beata became the mother to all of Lars's children, while the runaway Catharina had only one child with Mr. Jongh (now spelled Young).

Because Lars was the only minister in the immediate area, he performed both of his own marriages. In the early days of this country, law as we understand it today was sparse, if in existence at all, so Lars used his biblical knowledge and considered her adultery to be a divorcement. There were some who took issue with this, but what else could be done with the main source of both legal and religious authority several thousand miles and months away.

It is interesting to note that Beata Lom, whose father was Måns Lom, is reputed to be the first non-native European infant born in what would eventually be known as the Delaware Valley. Dutch authorities claimed that Beata's marriage to Lars was not legal because a divorce had not yet been granted by Governor Stuyvesant, but Olof Stille, with whom Beata had lived, told them in court it was none of their business.

A number if Finnish families who had settled in the area with the Swedes moved off of Tinicum island to Crane Hook, which was under Dutch rule, and established another log church after being granted religious freedom by the Dutch governor of New Amstel, Alexander d'Hinojossa. Lars ministered there as well until he died.

In 1664, the British took control of the Delaware River region and in 1669, the Finns decided to fight back. Lars was a supporter of this cause and ended up being fined for taking part in the "Long Finn Rebellion" - so named because the organizer was a tall Finn.

Lars was the only minister in the area along the Delaware River until 1667 when the log church at Wicaco was built and Rev. Jacob Fabritius was hired. The hiring of Jacob Jongh, his first wife's "bill of divorcement", as sexton only added insult to injury for Lars who remained the minister for both the Tinicum and Crane Hook congregations until his death in 1688 at age 64, suffering "lameness" by that time. Beata followed him the following year. Their minor children moved across the river to Gloucester County, New Jersey, and lived with their aunt Maria Lom and her husband Johan Mattson. Most of the family settled in and around the area known today as Swedesboro. And, that is where the family remains today.

If you look at the map of New Sweden, you will see Kristina (where Wilmington, Delaware is today), Fort Nassau (where Gloucester City, New Jersey is now located and where I currently live) and the current location of Philadelphia directly across from Fort Nassau. Gloucester County once encompassed the area that includes Fort Nassau, but the modern boundary begins at the creek immediately below Fort Nassau.

As you can see, my family has been part of this area for a very long time. I have learned more about the history of this country because of tracing my family than I ever learned in high school history class.

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Image credit - Map of New Sweden: This image was first published in the 1st (1876–1899), 2nd (1904–1926) or 3rd (1923–1937) edition of Nordisk familjebok. The copyrights for that book have expired and this image is in the public domain.

More information can be obtained by visiting the Swedish Colonial Society website.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Fixing Things Around the House

So, I was on a mission a couple weekends ago. I was sick and tired of sitting on the dining room chairs and having the joints separate. I was also tired of using the toilet and sliding side to side because a hinge bolt is missing. So, I went out and bought wood glue and hinge bolts.That Saturday night I put the bold in the toilet seat hinge and am happy again to not be going for a "ride" when using it. Why only one bolt? Because my daughter wanted to thoroughly clean the seat when she was on a cleaning binge, so she took it off the toilet and put it in the tub full of water and bleach. When she drained the tub, she didn't take the nylon bolts out first, so one of them went down the drain. Yeah. But, still...better one bolt than none, right?As for the dining room chairs, my parents got them in the late 60s with the entire dining set. They were second hand even then, so I don't quite know how old they are. But, the glue in the joints has dried so much over the years that they are beginning to separate. I finally got some wood glue at the same time as I got the hinge bolts and glued one of the chairs on Thursday. It dried all day Friday and Saturday and is now back at its rightful place. The next day I worked on another one. I only wanted to do one at a time because they take up a lot of space upside down while they were drying, so it was just easier to deal with one at a time. We rarely eat at the dining table, so we were not being inconvenienced by doing them one at a time.Photo credit - Some rights reserved by noricum (www.flickr.com/photos/noricum/) As usual, I didn't think to take a pic until I was writing the post, so this is the best representation I could find of the kind of repair I had to make (and still have to make).

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Dumb Criminals - Gotta Love Them

I read an article on our local ABC news channel's website that made me laugh. And, the reason I said you "gotta love them" with regard to dumb criminals is because they're so easily caught!

These two guys decided that breaking in to the local Sunoco gas station store would be a good idea. And, sure, maybe since there weren't many cars on the road at that time since we were in the midst of another of our snows, sounded like a good idea and one that would leave little chance of being witnessed committing the crime, these doofuses failed to realize that the snow on the ground, the same snow that kept traffic off the roads, would allow their footprints to be visible. So visible, in fact, that police were able to follow them back to the very house they'd taken everything they stole!!!

So, way to go, you two!!! You just made law enforcement's crime solving a piece of cake!! D'OH!

About Me

I'm a divorced mom of two adult children. I live with my daughter and our cats. I have four grandchildren all of whom live in Utah. I love the Internet because there is so much information accessible and so many things to do. There is no excuse for ignorance when the answers can be found so readily.I will have advertising posted via Blogsvertise for which I hope to receive compensation. I will try to keep the ads within my own personal comfort range.
I fell away from my blogs for a bit but am trying to get actively writing again, even if not daily.
You can also find me on Facebook in the GBE2 group.